This application relates to optical fluorophosphate glasses which are based on Ba(PO.sub.3).sub.2, Al(PO.sub.3).sub.3, alkaline earth metal fluorides and AlF.sub.3 with improved physico-chemical properties and to a process for their preparation.
Fluorophosphate glasses with positive anomalous partial dispersion have long been employed for the production of apochromatic microscope lenses. Over the past few years, however, the use of these glasses has also greatly increased in the photooptics sector, especially for wide-angle telephoto lenses. Without these glasses, it is impossible to produce well corrected telephoto lenses having a long focal length.
Compared with the standard silicate and borosilicate glasses, however, fluorophosphate glasses, with their outstanding optical properties, have the disadvantage that their other physical properties, such as for example, the linear thermal expansion coefficient, the glass transition temperature and the Knoop hardness, are not optimum. This has the result that difficulties and complaints may arise during processing of the lenses and during subsequent use.
For applications in microoptics, where the lens diameters involved are only a few millimeters, these problems are relatively easy to overcome. On the other hand, a different situation is encountered in the production of lenses for long-focal-length telephoto lens systems, some of which have lens diameters of more than 200 mm.